(Photo Credit: Local 3 News) From our partners at Local 3 News: The Chattanooga City Council has voted to accept a $500,000 grant that will be used t
(Photo Credit: Local 3 News)
From our partners at Local 3 News: The Chattanooga City Council has voted to accept a $500,000 grant that will be used towards the first step in the multiphase project to bring an Amtrak rail service to the Scenic City.
The City of Chattanooga has officially been accepted into the US Department of Transportation’s Corridor ID Program and was awarded the grant to fund step one of the plan which is scoping.
“So what we’re looking at is who’s going to ride, where are they going to go, when are they going to want to leave and how much are they going to want to pay,” explained Ellis Smith, Director of Intergovernmental and External Affairs for the City of Chattanooga.
Smith said this first step will be an extensive two year study. While there have been talks in previous years about high-speed trains coming to Chattanooga, he said this corridor, named the Sunbelt Atlantic Connector, is different.
“This is regular rail 55 miles an hour using the tracks the trains are using right now today,” he said.
The rail line would offer passenger service between Nashville, Chattanooga, Atlanta and Memphis.
“Via Atlanta, it’ll loop everybody into the entire East coast, going all up and down from Pennsylvania to Florida. Then as you get over to the Memphis side, it hooks you up with Chicago, New Orleans, and the entire West coast. Not only will this connect four cities, but this will connect us to the entire country’s rail network.”
Smith said there’s also economic benefits that come along with creating this rail corridor.
“More than half of Tennessee’s sales dollars comes from tourism and what better way to see the beautiful state of Tennessee than riding the rails through the mountains and rivers.”
He said this project really started with Mayor Kelly more than a year ago, but all four mayors and the state are excited for the creation of the Sunbelt Atlantic Corridor.
“TACIR actually identified this corridor as it’s Tier 1, it’s top recommendation. So, the state of Tennessee said that the Atlanta, Chattanooga, Nashville route is the top priority,” he explained.
After step one is complete, Smith said they will begin step two in their multiphase project which would be looking at what they would need to build to operate the railroad.
